S.F. CULTURE

SF gay history museum finds home, identity

1of14The GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual) history museum will open tomorrow in the Castro in San Francisco, Calif., as exhibition consultant Ramone Silvestre (right) and volunteer Hin Leung (middle, right) do last minute preparations on Tuesday, January 11, 2011.Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

2of14Exhibition consultant Ramone Silvestre (left) and curator Gerard Koskovich (right) do last minute preparations for the January 11, 2011 opening of the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual) history museum in the Castro in San Francisco, Calif.Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

3of14The GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual) history museum will open tomorrow in the Castro in San Francisco, Calif., with matchbooks from the city's gay bars from the 1950's to the 1990's ready for the exhibition on Tuesday, January 11, 2011.Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

4of14Matchbook covers from local gay clubs are on display at the GLBT history museum in the Castro in San Francisco, Calif.Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

5of14The country's first gay history museum opened in San Francisco's Castro district, featuring hundreds of items including Harvey Milk's megaphone, documents, a collection of sex toys and multimedia presentations.Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

6of14A photo album with vintage photographs of gay couples is displayed during the grand opening of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Museum on January 12, 2011 in San Francisco, California.Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

7of14A display featuring Leonard Maltovich, the first gay service member to fight the ban on gays in the military, at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Museum in San Francisco, California.Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

8of14Personal possessions of the late San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk are displayed at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Museum in San Francisco, California.Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

9of14A dinner ticket honoring supervisor Harvey Milk in January of 1978 is exhibited at the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual) history museum in the Castro in San Francisco, Calif.Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

10of14A reporter takes a photograph of personal possessions of the late San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk during the grand opening of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Museum on January 12, 2011 in San Francisco, California.Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

11of14Postcards featuring same-sex couples are displayed at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Museum in San Francisco, California.Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

12of14Coffee mugs are displayed during the grand opening of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Museum on January 12, 2011 in San Francisco, California. The country's first gay history museum in San Francisco's Castro district features hundreds of items including Harvey Milk's megaphone, documents, a collection of sex toys and multimedia presentations.Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

13of14The country's first gay history museum in San Francisco's Castro features hundreds of items including Harvey Milk's megaphone, documents, a collection of sex toys and multimedia presentations.Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

14of14Matchbooks from gay clubs are displayed during the grand opening of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Museum on January 12, 2011 in San Francisco, California.Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Long recognized as "one of the great ground zeroes of queer liberation," the Castro becomes the site of the nation's first lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history museum today.

Now, objects from the kitchen table and pink-framed sunglasses that belonged to Harvey Milk - who became the first elected openly gay politician in California by becoming a member of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors - to manuscripts and sex toys, are on display at the 1,600-square-foot space at 4127 18th St.

With two exhibits and hundreds of articles, the GLBT History Museum is the world's second museum dedicated solely to gay and lesbian archives and materials, museum officials said. The only other one is in Germany.

"Telling our stories transforms our lives and our society and takes us out of the margins," said Don Romesburg, a curator and assistant professor of Sonoma State University's Department of Women's and Gender Studies. "The museum is at the heart of that project."

The GLBT Historical Society, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in March, had its sights set on opening a museum for a decade, said Executive Director Paul Boneberg. The search ended in April when the society signed a five-year lease for a formerly empty storefront.

San Francisco "should have had one long before this, given that it's known as a mecca for LGBT people," said Karen Sundheim, program manager of the Main Library's James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center.

Affordable space

The main hurdle for the society, with a $500,000 annual budget, was finding an affordable space, Boneberg said. An 11-month exhibit that opened in 2008 shortly after the release of the film "Milk" drew 25,000 visitors and proved that a permanent museum would be successful, he said.

Foot traffic in the area dropped immediately after the temporary exhibit closed, said Steve Porter, general manager of Harvey's, three doors down from the new museum. But that isn't why the restaurant - among dozens of neighboring businesses and individuals - donated thousands to the $250,000 price tag to open and run the museum for the first year.

"Harvey would want us to do to so," Porter said. "Because he would recognize how important it is for younger gays to be aware of the legacy of their struggle and the future."

Donations, volunteers

To run the museum, the society will rely on donations and volunteers such as Fred Baumer, 57, who has lived in the Castro his entire life and came out in the early 1970s. "People will come in here and have very emotional experiences to what they see," he said. "I want to talk to them about it, be a human face behind all of this."

The museum's opening was the top priority for the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro, the association President Stephen Adams said, because it will draw more tourists and locals alike and "really help with the economic vitality of the neighborhood."

The museum's opening - a month and a half after the Smithsonian Institution removed a controversial video that appeared in the National Portrait Gallery's exhibit on gay portraiture, "Hide/Seek" - brings the importance of having a museum dedicated to gay and lesbian issues to the forefront, said curator Gerard Koskovich.

"What that shows me is that when so-called mainstream institutions - even in their goodwill - offer to tell our stories, they tell them in their own terms," he said. "Here, we get to tell our stories on our own terms without having to apologize."